Energy efficiency

The "slow food" movement came first, followed by "slow work" and even "slow medicine." Next, will people let the Internet relax a little for the sake of ecological sustainability?

Researchers are finding that data centers can make relatively simple power consumption tweaks that mimic those long available for personal computers, as New Scientist reports.

Energy-saving settings take several clicks to set up on Windows or Mac personal computers. But at data centers, where power consumption counts on a grander scale, equipment is often left on even when dormant.

Data centers' emissions of global warming … Read more

You could call it grass-roots green.

The second season of Energy Smackdown, a TV show that challenges homeowners in the Boston area to "green" their lives, kicked off Sunday.

Households, including my own, have signed up to take up several challenges to lower their carbon footprint and compete against families in other nearby cities--in this case between Medford, Cambridge, and Arlington, Mass.

There are a number of challenges, such as coming up with an energy-efficiency plan, reducing travel, and eating local food.

You'd be amazed at what people can do. One of the families that participated in … Read more

Audi is joining other German automakers in the effort to eliminate exhaust emissions, promising to bring an electric model to market in the next 10 years.

Rupert Stadler, Audi's chairman and chief executive, said in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag published Sunday that he expects battery technology to dominate in the coming five to 10 years.

"By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions," Reuters quoted Stadler as saying. "Electric cars offer great opportunities, which we have already seized on."

Reducing vehicle emissions is a chief concern for automakers in Germany. … Read more

Attention mountain climbers, hikers, backcountry skiiers, and city dwellers with no sense of direction: new technology could make your handheld GPS device more energy-efficient and let its battery last longer.

Fuel cell manufacturer MTI Micro announced on Friday that it has created a prototype for an embedded fuel cell for handheld GPS devices.

The company said it will provide three times as much power as a set of four AA batteries would, keeping the GPS gadget in question powered for up to 60 hours of continuous use. That's crucial for many users of handheld GPS devices, who are often … Read more

The data centers used by tech companies to run their Web sites and corporate networks are notorious energy hogs.

The information and communications technology sector currently accounts for about 6 percent of the nation's power consumption, up from about 2 percent to 3 percent in 2000, according to a report in February from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

In a report to Congress last August, the Environmental Protection Agency predicted that the amount of power used by U.S. data centers would more than double over the next five years, at a cost of $7.4 billion … Read more

Greenhouse gas emissions from data centers rank higher than the countries of Argentina and the Netherlands and right behind airlines, shipyards, and steel plants.

Those comparisons were compiled by consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the Uptime Institute, which on Wednesday published a report on the worsening picture--environmentally and economically--of energy consumption from data centers.

McKinsey called for the creation of a metric that combines the energy efficiency of a data center facility with the utilization of IT gear that runs in data centers. When combined, the financial impact of data centers' energy bill will become more clear and … Read more

That ancient, inefficient heating/air conditioning system in your building might be worth something someday.

Pacific Gas & Electric CEO Pete Darbee said in a briefing with reporters Tuesday that the utility is working with government officials to see if there is a way to create a fund that gives building owners financial incentives to replace old compressors, pumps, and other building equipment with new, energy-efficient versions.

Building owners want to get rid of this old equipment, he explained, but the capital requirements are a big hurdle. The program could be structured in a way so that it could be … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Washington lawmakers aiming to green both the Capitol dome and the laws made beneath it are turning to Silicon Valley for inspiration while pledging to help renewable energy start-ups get off the ground.

Some Democrats in the House of Representatives fear U.S. policies aren't combating global warming quickly enough. But they hope that they can at least "green" the Capitol complex enough to call it the world's first carbon-neutral legislative body within the year.

"We're making a difference and we're going to change the world," said Rep. Zoe … Read more

SynapSense, a start-up focusing on data center energy consumption, has come up with a software package that it says will give a more accurate view of the environment inside of server rooms.

LiveImaging, a new feature of the company's Synapsoft package, provides real-time information on humidity, temperature, pressure differentials, hot spots, cool zones, and other phenomena inside a server room. Armed with the data, IT managers can then adjust, or eventually reconfigure, the air conditioners and cooling equipment in server rooms.

Corporations have been testing technologies that will help them cut their energy costs in data centers and, in … Read more